News from EPI › Taxes have fallen furthest for those at the very top

With the Bush tax cuts scheduled to expire on Jan. 1, 2013, tax fairness is likely to be a prominent topic throughout the presidential campaign. Today’s Snapshot shows that since 1995, average effective tax rates have declined more for high-income households, falling more than 9 percentage points for the top 0.01 percent of households and more than 6 percentage points for other households in the top 1 percent. Effective tax rates have also fallen for households between the 20th and 99th percentile, but by less than 3 percentage points.

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EPI is an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States. EPI’s research helps policymakers, opinion leaders, advocates, journalists, and the public understand the bread-and-butter issues affecting ordinary Americans.